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City Council Considers Smart Growth for Innes Housing Development

The pieces continue to fall in place for the
proposed 330-unit mixed-income redevelopment of the Innes Housing Development
on Central Avenue.

Tuesday night, the City Council held a
public meeting with state officials and developers on the 40R Smart Growth
overlay zoning that the council will need to approve before the City can become
eligible for at least $11 million in state funding for the project.

In addition, with passage of the 40R zoning,
Chelsea could receive a little over an additional $1 million from the state’s
Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

About half of that money would go to
Corcoran Development, which has partnered with the Chelsea Housing Authority
(CHA) to redevelop the Innes Housing Development in two phases. The 96 public
housing units will be re-developed with 40 middle-income (80 to 120 percent of
the AMI) units and 194 market rate units. The project will go in two phases to
reduce relocation of residents.

“We’re having this meeting so we can have
more understanding about the 40R zoning amendment for smart growth,” said
Judith Garcia, the District 5 Councillor.

The Planning Board is expected to make a
recommendation on the smart growth zoning at its next meeting Tuesday night,
clearing the way for a final City Council vote.

The basic requirements for a 40R district
are an eligible location preferably in a city or town center, near public
transportation, and allowing minimum by-right density of eight single-family
units, twelve 2-3 family units, and 20 multi-family units per acre, according
to William Reyelt of the DHCD.

“It has to be primarily a residential
district, but we do encourage mixed-use development,” said Reyelt.

In addition, age restrictions cannot be
required in the smart growth districts, and 20 percent of the total units must be
affordable, he said.

Once the zoning is approved by the city and
then verified by the state, the city will get its first incentive payment from
the state, Reyelt said. With smart growth zoning, communities are also eligible
for additional density bonuses and school reimbursement payments.

Currently, there are 47 smart growth
districts in 41 communities across the state, Reyelt said.

Unsurprisingly, parking was the biggest area
of concern raised by City Councilors during the question and answer portion of
Tuesday night’s presentation, although there are no specific parking
requirements or regulations built into the 40R zoning.

“The project is great, but not at the
expense of the citizens in the area,” said Council President Damali Vidot. “We
need to have a very serious conversation about it.”

There will be 276 parking spaces on site,
and the developer has said they are willing to do traffic and parking studies
to perhaps help the overall neighborhood with street parking. Initially, the
developers proposed 226 spaces, but Ronnie Slammin of Corcoran said an
additional 50 spaces are now in the plans.

The current CHA residents are eligible for
street parking permits, and will continue to be able to park at the redeveloped
Innes housing for free as part of the CHA’s 99-year lease with Corcoran.

But several councilors said they still had
concerns about how parking would impact the neighborhood.

“Before the Council moves forward, that will
definitely have to be on the table,” said District 8 Councillor Calvin T. Brown.

District 1 Councillor Robert Bishop said he
wants to make sure the current CHA residents are allowed to park on-site and
not forced on the street for parking.

District 4 Councillor Enio Lopez said he
wanted assurances that the 96 public housing units would remain under CHA
control.